Megazone 23

is a three-part original video animation created by Noboru Ishiguro and Shinji Aramaki.

The events take place in a post-apocalyptic future, where Tokyo only exists as a simulated reality. The story follows Shogo Yahagi, a delinquent motorcyclist whose possession of a government prototype bike leads him to discover the truth about the city.

Plot

Part I

Shogo Yahagi lives in what appears to be 1980s metropolitan Japan. He meets Yui Takanaka and discovers her roommates are his friends Mai Yumekano and Tomomi Murashita. Shogo's old friend Shinji Nakagawa shows him a military prototype Garland motorcycle (labeled "Bahamut") that can reach over of 300km/h. He nearly escapes as Shinji is killed by unknown agents.

Shogo uses a public video phone to call Eve Tokimatsuri, a popular singer and TV host, during her show to expose the Garland to the public. The show's broadcast is cut off while Shogo shows Eve the bike (now painted red by a mechanic friend) and explains its capability. He escapes in another chase by agents and soon discovers it can also transform into a mecha.

Shogo helps Tomomi make an action film centered around the mysterious bike and has Yui hide the Garland at night. While looking for film locales, Shogo finds a secret entrance to a hidden, abandoned city and battles with some of the advanced fighters he encounters, most importantly with a military big shot named B.D.

After B.D. is nearly defeated, he informs Shogo about that Bahamut is a supercomputer that controls the events in this world, and that they are actually living on a spaceship, and that the real time is actually 500 years in the future. The military were developing new weapons underground to avoid Bahamut's detection, and that they have cleared "Level 6", Shogo shows mercy and leaves.

He then sneaks inside Eve's recording studio, and finds out that she is actually a computer simulated idol. In his anger at the state of the world, he nearly forces Yui to make love to him, but she supports and understands him anyway, and they have a romantic night. He confides in her everything he's learned about the world and watches martial law unfold on the city.

As the military clears "Level 7" of Eve's protection, B.D kills the Brass, manipulates the Prime Minister, and obtains financial support from the wealthy, notably Mai's father. Agents kill Tomomi and steal her master tapes, and a grief-stricken Mai returns to live with her father. Eve contacts Shogo through the Garland to ask him to help reactivate her reveals that the human race destroyed Earth, that there were actually 2 ships that left earth successfully and that Bahamut simulates the era of the 1980s because it was the most peaceful and full of love.

Shogo goes back to the underground city, and battles with the military, but is defeated by B.D., who returns Shogo's mercy by sending him back up to surface. Badly wounded, Shogo deserts the broken Garland and apparently walks back to Yui's place.

Part II

Shogo has been living underground for several months from the military and police. He teams up with the motorcycle gang "Trash" and reunites with Yui, who is part of the gang. While watching Eve's new music videos, Shogo sees her occasionally interrupt her video and ask for "Operator 7G", her codename for Shogo. In space, B.D.'s military has been fighting the alien race (the "Dezalg"), which uses an octopus-like penetrating weapon. As the fighting goes on, B.D. searches for Shogo, luring him into stealing another Garland. Shogo gets the Garland, escaping the trap, and uses it to contact Eve.

Trash has a showdown with the military in the city, where martial law is still in effect. In the battle, many of the members of Trash are wounded, including Yui. Lightning and Cindy help Shogo take Yui to Eve.

Shogo meets with Eve, who tries to heal Yui and reveals that Megazone is returning to Earth, but the planet has been protected by ADAM, which is programmed to destroy anything approaching the Earth except a select subset of the population chosen by ADAM. Eve admits ADAM is beyond her control, but she wishes Shogo the best and sends him off to reunite with Cindy and Lightning of Trash. B.D. arrives, apparently to challenge Shogo, but B.D. admits his helplessness in his position and also wishes Shogo good luck.

ADAM destroys the Dezalg ship and Megazone as what looks like an escape pod approaches the planet. Shogo deduces that the destruction will come soon, then sees Yui coming out of Eve's chamber. They start to step out of the building and see that they have landed on a peaceful Earth.

Part II is notable in abandoning the traditional anime style for more realistic looking characters. In addition, it contains more explicit scenes of violence and sex than its predecessor.

Part III

Part III is set hundreds of years after Part II and concerns a technologically advanced city on Earth, Eden, enclosed in a shield that ostensibly protects it from the outside but also keep humanity from repopulating the rest of the Earth until they are ready.

The Awakening of Eve

Eiji Takanaka is a hacker ("netjacker") and expert virtual gamer that hangs out in the virtual arcade, Psycholand. He starts working at E=X, the company, under the leadership of a mysterious Bishop Won Dai, that controls the shield and the city's information network, known as "The System." His friend Bud starts working at Orange, E=X's rival. Both friends play Orange's spacecraft simulator game called "Hard-On" (possibly a reference to the Sega game Hang-On), that is actively sent updates and new levels by the company. Orange seeks to complete a network independent of The System, and it uses its games to train fighters unconsciously for its cause.

Eiji goes out with Ryo Narahara, who works at the arcade; together they discuss life in Eden and the songs of Eve, whom Eden's population knows to be an artificial intelligence. She lures him to use his hacker skills to find her contact information. He finds her information deleted when using his terminal, so he and Bud try to find it by hacking the network in Eden's alleys.

At E=X, director Yacob Halm gives a speech about the importance of The System and decries netjackers. Operator Miura Simka privately warns Eiji about his activities, about which she has evidence, but she lets him go because of his invaluable skills. Yacob directs Eiji to use a Garland to catch netjackers. He takes it home to customize it.

Ryo visits Eiji, and they discuss Sion, an operator at Orange that has been challenging Eiji with new versions of the game in real time. His apartment heats up, and they escape through the window using the Garland, before it explodes. Sion hacks into the E=X network and finds a program called "Project Heaven." He and his Hargan units attack Eiji and their Garland units in a battle that Eiji predicted would happen between the two companies. Eiji and Sion end up joining forces as Sion explains that he was testing Eiji to see if he can awaken Eve. The company forces still battle. Eiji takes the Garland under the city and finds Eve's capsule. Eve awakens and addresses Eiji as "Operator 7G."

Day of Liberation

Eve takes Eiji outside Eden to the ruins of Megazone to check on Bahamut and explains its control of Megazone and guidance back to Earth. They see Eden's outside machinery stretching out further to maintain the city. Eve activates Bahamut to run diagnostics on Eden, which reports status as normal. Eve wonders why Shogo did not wake her and asks Bahamut what happened to him. Bahamut directs her to the last remaining file on him in the next room, which contains his Garland (from Part II) and a disk.

As Eve and Eiji return to Eden, Sion prepares to take over Orange from its leaders who only want to crush E=X. In the battle, Bud is brainwashed and fights for them but is killed in the process, despite Eiji's attempts to save him. They reach Bishop Won Dai, who they now know to be a Megazone survivor, to stop Project Heaven, which was planned to launch Eden into space to save Earth from humanity again. As the city starts to rumble in the execution of Project Heaven, Eiji shows Won Dai the disk, and he recognizes it and snaps out of his trance, realizing he has been connected to the system for too long. As he dies while Eiji attends to him, Eve takes the Bishop's place to stop Project Heaven. She kisses Eiji and "Shogo" goodbye through the glass shield that now surrounds her and brings the city back down, opening it back to nature. Eiji returns to the streets to find Ryo waiting for him and the fighting over.

Characters

Shogo Yahagi The main character. A reckless youth who begins to take on dire responsibility as he discovers the true nature of his world. His best friends are Morley Hiroki and Chombo. Yui Takanaka An aspiring dancer who falls for Shogo. She lives in an apartment with two other girls, Mai Yumekano and Tomomi Murashita. Mai Yumekano A Singer-songwriter and keyboard player who comes from a rich family. Tomomi Murashita An aspiring filmmaker, scriptwritter. Likes beer. Eve Tokimatsuri A popular singer in the city. In reality, she is part of a computer program named Bahamut which is supposed to keep the people of the city content, ignorant, and safe. Notably, In the second part, she helps Shogo learn his planned place in the world, and in the last part, the original Eve helps out Shogo's replacement in the same way. (Parts I and II) (Part III)Shinji Nakagawa An old friend of Shogo Yahagi who has become a motorcycle test driver for a secret military program. B.D. A powerful military leader who is intent on taking control of the ship from Bahamut. His plans become tenuous with the involvement of Shogo. Lightning He is the leader of the motorcycle gang Trash. In the second movie, he has befriended Shogo and aids him with retrieving the Garland motorcycle. He also helps Shogo with his second, more organized raid on Bahamut. Gutz Gutz is the muscle of the Trash gang. He helps Shogo and Lightning with their plan to confront the military and contact Eve. Cindy A member of Trash and the girlfriend of Lightning. She befriends Yui and teaches her how to drive a motorcycle. Her appearance is deliberately modelled after the American pop singer Cindi Lauper. Lieutenant Shiratori A soldier liaising with the Tokyo police investigating the Tomomi Murashita murder case. He has been tasked by B. D. to capture or kill Shogo and his companions. Eiji Takanaka A hacker, gamer, and motorcyclist who takes up the mission of Shogo Yahagi to liberate the human race from computerized supervision. There is no apparent relationship between Eiji Takanaka and Yui Takanaka of the first two movies.Bishop Won Dai The human interface of Eden City's "System" - a supercomputer that serves the same purpose as Bahamut. Won Dai has created an apocalyptic quasi-religion based on humanity's relationship with the planet Earth.Yacob Halm The director of the E=X company and a zealous supporter of Project Heaven. He answers only to Bishop Won Dai.

Production

Megazone 23 was conceived as a television series, but it was changed to a direct-to-video project after the sponsors withdrew their support mid-production. According to Ishiguro Norobu, the end result was a "compilation movie" of already produced episodes. Megazone was not conceived as a multi-part story. As such, the original release of "Part I" lacks the subtitle that has been added to subsequent re-releases.

ADV Films is currently the owner of the license. It has passed hands through Harmony Gold, Streamline Pictures, and Image Entertainment.

Design

The original planned title was "Omega City 23," then "Vanity City" and "Omega Zone 23," but trade mark issue compels title change. The number "23" was originally a reference to the 23 municipal wards of Tokyo. In the retroactive continuity established by Part III, the number refers to the 23rd man made city-ship, with Megazone 1 named "Big Apple". The Eve character also shares some distant similarities with fictional contemporary Max Headroom from the 1985 TV movie 20 Minutes into the Future and its TV series, both of which also feature the broadcaster, Network 23. No direct influence between Eve and Max is apparent, as the characters and universes are otherwise completely different.

Alternate versions

"Part I" was spliced with The Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross by Carl Macek to create Robotech: The Movie in 1986. This version contains an alternate ending where Shogo (renamed Mark Landry for Robotech) hijacks a military jet in order to defeat B.D.'s plans. This ending was commissioned especially for Robotech: The Movie and does not fit into the original (canonical) Megazone 23 story.

The "International Edition" of Part II features an English-language voice cast and Japanese subtitles. It also includes footage from Robotech: The Movie -- the alternate ending mentioned above with voiced-over narration, used as an introduction to Part II. Here, Shogo is called "Johnny Winters," and Yui is called "Sue" (though her bike helmet still says Yui, as the video is the same). This Japan-only release version was originally on laserdisc, then in the out-of-print DVD Box Set. It is currently available as a Region 2 DVD bundled with the Limited Edition of the PS3 game Megazone 23: Aoi Garland.

Part III is only available on DVD in an 80 minute version in North America.

The series is featured in the Super Robot Wars video games series, specifically in Super Robot Wars Destiny for the Game Boy Advance.

In addition, Megazone 23 is believed to be an influence on The Matrix and the "Flow" chapter from the Super Famicon game Live A Live.

In 2007, ADV Films released a comprehensive 3-disc DVD entitled Megazone 23 Complete Collection. The first disc contains Megazone 23 (Part I). The second disc contains Megazone 23 Part II. The third disc contains Megazone 23 Part III: The Awakening of Eve and Day of Liberation. An audio option for English or Japanese with English subtitles is offered on each disc. Disc One includes a supplemental commentary for the first Megazone 23 movie featuring ADR directors Matt Greenfield, David Williams and Janice Williams.

References to other anime

During a chase scene in part I after Shogo discovers the reality behind Tokimatsuri, the drivers of the police car in pursuit closely resembled Lupin and Daisuke Jigen from the series Lupin III (a similar appearance occurs in an episode of the Macross TV series. Noburo Ishiguro had directed some installments of Lupin III). In Part I, when Mai comes home having been scouted by Tokimatsuri's directors, she throws a duffel bag labeled "Dagger of Kamui" onto a chair and almost hits the house cat.

In Part III, the Psycholand Video Arcade Employee database lists Yui, Tomomi, and Mai from Part I, as well as the surname Miyasato.